Tuscan Time
Poggio Alloro
“Here in Tuscany, the ingredients for a beautiful life are very simple: good food, good wine, and good friends. We are definitely not rich, but we consider ourselves wealthy. The most generous gift we can give each other is our time.”
-Sarah Fioroni
I’m longing for life before social media while writing on a social media platform; the irony is apparent. Maybe that’s one of my loves for Lucca; history is so close, making it easy to disconnect from the present and spend moments in the past. Choices are everywhere: walk the wall, hike the hills, or stroll along the Serchio and it becomes simple to break the digital habit and immerse yourself in another life, the slower life of Lucca.
Make no mistake, life in Lucca is not endless picnics and prosecco; it’s not a vacation; it’s living in a foreign language. No matter how well we adopt the language, we’ll always be stranieri, navigating the challenges of “local” daily life and bureaucracy. Still, we’re blessed for the opportunity and embrace the challenge, knowing you must earn the privilege of a life in Italy.
As I walk these days, I reminisce more, feeling I’ve lived a thousand lives and weathered a hundred seasons. I’m now living amongst the characters of the moment, many of whom have been called to Lucca for different reasons. Intrepid souls, searchers, and wanderers alike, all in their own way, learning to be still, away from a world in constant motion.
Can this be what Paris in 1922 felt like to the Lost Generation? Today's world is still wrought with the same problems, just in different shapes and sizes, bearing down on new generations. Here we are in Italy; we’re a stone's throw from the world of chaos, but we are comforted in the fact that these walls, these streets, and these people have seen it all before, and prevailed.
When you’re young, you think things will go on forever; time is everlasting, problems will never end, and good times will always last, but all this will pass. When you’re older, you realize you’d trade it all for more time—more time for yourself, your family, and your friends. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear the words of Sarah Fiorini in my head.
To have Lucca in our lives has been a gift beyond measure; it’s brought us deep friendships and a sense of place that we feel is home. Having the time to share it with friends, old and new, brings us great joy, as with each guest we welcome, it's like discovering it again for the first time.
That’s why I share this with you here…on social media! 😊
Speriamo di condividere presto del tempo con voi!
Michael